Pamplona turned out
to be a rather scruffy city with indications of poverty, or impending poverty,
everywhere - not surprising, I suppose, considering Spain's economy right now. Walking into the city through a very rough
area was rather spooky - many eyes were following us and I was glad not to be
alone. Evidence of Basque separatism was
also very prevalent - signs, posters, graffiti and protest marches were the
order of the day. We saw the best part
of the city as we were leaving; the trail went through a lovely park and on towards
the university campus. Such was Pamplona!
The 25kms walk across the Alto de Perdon to Puente La Reine was very, very challenging. It was extremely steep up, and extremely steep down, with gravel, rocks and boulders underfoot for most of the way. It was also unbelievably hot - the last 10kms were out in the open with no shade at all. The sun was unrelenting. Nonetheless, I still had the energy to be fascinated by the juxtaposition of the medieval pilgrim sculptures on top of the Alto and the 21st Century windmills strung out across the hilltops.
Today´s walk (June 25th) from Puente La Reine to Estella was also very difficult as it was almost all up hill (and that was a mountain-sized hill not a gentle slope!). We arrived at our hotel completely exhausted but were soon revived by a hot shower and a cold beer. Tomorrow´s walk promises to be equally challenging.
Today, as always, the European blackbirds (turdus merula - not seen in N. America) were singing their melodious songs in the hedgerows as we walked along. Now I have the Beatles song “Blackbird singing in the dead of night / Take these broken wings and learn to fly” swimming around in my head and I can´t get rid of it...
I have taken lots of pictures but can´t post them because I never have access to a computer to download them from my camera. The hotels here provide only keyboards and monitors...
The 25kms walk across the Alto de Perdon to Puente La Reine was very, very challenging. It was extremely steep up, and extremely steep down, with gravel, rocks and boulders underfoot for most of the way. It was also unbelievably hot - the last 10kms were out in the open with no shade at all. The sun was unrelenting. Nonetheless, I still had the energy to be fascinated by the juxtaposition of the medieval pilgrim sculptures on top of the Alto and the 21st Century windmills strung out across the hilltops.
Today´s walk (June 25th) from Puente La Reine to Estella was also very difficult as it was almost all up hill (and that was a mountain-sized hill not a gentle slope!). We arrived at our hotel completely exhausted but were soon revived by a hot shower and a cold beer. Tomorrow´s walk promises to be equally challenging.
Today, as always, the European blackbirds (turdus merula - not seen in N. America) were singing their melodious songs in the hedgerows as we walked along. Now I have the Beatles song “Blackbird singing in the dead of night / Take these broken wings and learn to fly” swimming around in my head and I can´t get rid of it...
I have taken lots of pictures but can´t post them because I never have access to a computer to download them from my camera. The hotels here provide only keyboards and monitors...
Hello Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for another interesting, beautifully composed post. Good luck on yet another challenging hike tomorrow. It has cooled down significantly in Ottawa over night but it should warm up by Wednesday. All the best! Vera
The diversity and timelessness of the Camino sounds very aluring. Your blog is inspiring my pilgim nature and following your adventures like Bunyan will certainly bless us all with an insight through your wonderful unintrospective?? eyes. Thanks and please take care and plenty of beer and wine with your sustenance.
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